The chamber transformed into a celestial battleground, its walls fading into a void filled with swirling stars and distant galaxies. Caelus hovered above the ground, his silver armor gleaming like the moon's surface. Energy radiated from him, a power vast and incomprehensible. Kratos stood firm, his eyes locked on the Eternal King, his muscles coiled with anticipation.
"You have defied the foundations of this realm," Caelus said, his voice like rolling thunder. "But I am the root of all. You are an insect, trying to topple a mountain."
"I've brought down mountains before," Kratos growled, his fists igniting with the combined powers of fire, shadow, and raw strength.
Caelus extended his hand, and the stars above aligned in a perfect arc. Bolts of starlight rained down, each strike leaving craters in the stone where Kratos had stood moments before. The Spartan darted through the storm, his movements fluid and precise.
As he leapt toward Caelus, the god raised his other hand, summoning an ethereal spear. With a single thrust, the spear extended, its tip grazing Kratos's arm and sending him crashing to the ground.
"You cannot match me," Caelus said, his tone more pitying than enraged.
Kratos rose, blood dripping from his wounds but his resolve unshaken. He drew upon the icy power of Malgrin's shadows, summoning tendrils of darkness that lashed out at Caelus. The god spun his spear, slicing through them with ease.
Undeterred, Kratos followed with an eruption of fire from Solinara's essence, the flames roaring toward his opponent. Caelus raised his arm, the flames parting around him as if bowing to his will.
"You wield the power of my fallen kin," Caelus said, his voice cold. "But their essence pales against the might of eternity."
Kratos smirked grimly, his fists glowing with all three powers at once. "Then I'll tear eternity apart."
With a deafening roar, Kratos charged again, the energies within him surging as one. He unleashed a flurry of strikes, each blow shaking the void around them. Caelus parried and countered, but for the first time, his movements seemed less certain, his steps less steady.
"You are persistent," Caelus admitted, his voice strained. "But persistence alone will not save you."
The void around them began to collapse, folding in on itself as the Eternal King unleashed his full power. Stars fell, gravity shifted, and the very fabric of the battlefield warped. Kratos gritted his teeth, his body battered but his spirit unbroken.
The battle was far from over.